The commemorative head, Uhunmwu Elao, of an Ọba placed at the king’s ancestral shrine could be made from bronze, wood or terra-cotta. The altar consists of a commemorative head that supported the carved ivory tusk. It could have a circular base or a rectangular-shaped base. However, they all have a unifying feature, which is the hole at the centre in which the tusk is placed.

Uhunmwu-Elao

Commemorative heads are placed on ancestral altars and shrines. They can be cast in brass, carved in wood or sculpted from clay and fired. Brass commemorative heads would only be cast to furnish a past Ọba’s ancestral shrine and, in a smaller number of cases, the Iy’Ọba. Wooden examples, sometimes with brass plate attached, would be made for titled chiefs. Terracotta heads would be used to furnish the ancestral altars of members of the Igun-Eronmwon, and it is understood that some terracotta heads date to the Ogiso period, predating the thirteenth century. Commemorative heads are not portraits of the deceased but memorials (Bradbury, 1973

Commemorative heads have been crucial in developing chronologies for Benin artworks. These studies have looked at the style and analysis of the copper-alloy composition as well as thermoluminescence dating. However, dating is still a matter of debate, with most scholars agreeing only that heads with flanges are more recent (eighteenth to nineteenth centuries), and those commemorative heads with low zinc percentages in the copper-alloy composition date from late fifteenth to early seventeenth century (for full discussion, see Junge, 2007

Commemorative Head

Nigeria

The library of the National Museum in Benin City holds newspaper clippings along with other relevant documents and publications relating to the institution.

Of relevance to those studying the history of the National Museum, Benin, are the following newspaper clippings:

Daily Times, 1 July 1973, ‘Benin Arts and Craft’ by Air Iyare

Daily Times, 2 June 1973, p. 5; ‘Why Stolen Art Works May Still Remain Abroad’, editorial

Daily Times, 2 June 1973, ‘16th Century Effigies Stolen in Benin’

Daily Times, 1 June 1973, ‘Retrieve Our Culture’

Daily Times, 11 August 1973, ‘National Museum Opened in Benin: Culture as a Unifying Factor Stressed’

Nigeria Observer, 1 June 1973, ‘Retrieve Our Culture’ by Peter Agbebaku

Nigeria Observer, 25 April 1973, Staff of Office

Nigeria Observer, 20 August 1973, p. 8, ‘Cultural Revival: Eyo Lauds M’West’ by Thomas Chukwu

Nigeria Observer,16 June 1973, ‘Opening of Benin Museum Put Off’

Nigeria Observer, 3 September 1973, ‘Nigeria Army Paid a Visit to National Museum Benin City’

Nigeria Observer, 20 February 1973, ‘Our Antiquities Abroad’

Nigeria Observer, 14 December 1972, ‘£30,000 Museums of Unity Planned for 3 Towns’

Daily Times, 14 August 1973, ‘Museum Opened’

Daily Times, 15 August 1973, ‘Let’s Preserve Our Antiquities’

These items are not digitised. They can be accessed onsite at the National Museum, Benin.

National Museum, Benin

Internal Data III (eng)

Internal Data II (eng)

Aberdeen University

Bell-Syer, H. B. 

British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

Member of the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897

Wikidata Link

Burney, Sydney Bernard

Dealer

Sotheby's

Auction House

Sydney Burney Gallery

Gallery

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